Complete fare gate closures nearing for SeaBus and SkyTrain stations

DH Vancouver StaffFeb 04, 2016 1:27 pm

Metro Vancouver’s public transit authority has begun the process of testing a complete closure of its transit station fare gate infrastructure.

According to TransLink’s Buzzer blog, gates at Edmonds Station were completely closed on Wednesday, and today the testing phased moved to Sperling-Burnaby Lake Station. More single-day tests will be conducted at other stations in the near future.

As part of the transition phase, extra SkyTrain attendants will be located at the stations being tested to ensure all transit users are able to pass through the closed gates.

“Besides seeing how closing all fare gates goes in general, part of the test is to track the amount of old media being exchanged for Compass products,” Buzzer editor Robert Willis wrote. “We will use the information to develop additional plans and schedules to use when implementing full station gate closures throughout the system.”

Ahead of the systemwide closure of the fare gates, transit users will be given advance warning for all future complete fare gate closure tests. At this time, there is no scheduled date for when fare gates will completely close.

Currently, there is at least one fare gate open at every station for individuals with disabilities and for anyone who still has any remaining FareSaver tickets.

Fare gates began closing at SkyTrain stations in November 2015. Eventually, as the final implementation phase, fare gates will operate in a single-directional mode to establish a more optimal traffic flow, especially during the busy peak hours. When this occurs, there will be designated entrance-only and exit-gates, although this will fluctuate throughout different times of operational hours.

This system would align TransLink’s fare gate system with hundreds of other fare gate systems around the world.